Glossary Term – Event

Glossary Term – Event

Eighty-seven pioneers led by George Donner set out from Illinois for California on April 16, 1846. The expedition suffered a series of unfortunate events and circumstances, leading to the deaths of nearly half the party. Some resorted to cannibalism for survival. Rescuers arrived in February 1847, but only forty-eight members of the party survived.

Glossary Term – Event

James W. Marshall, a 36-year-old carpenter and handyman, discovered gold at a sawmill near Sacramento, California. The discovery set off the California gold rush. In 1849, 80,000 men arrived in California hoping to make a fortune in mining. Few struck it rich, and the gold rush lasted less than a decade.

Glossary Term – Event

Fifty-three captive West Africans revolted at sea and seized control of the slave ship L’Amistad. The ship was soon captured by the US Navy and towed to New Haven, where there was a legal battle over the Africans’ fate. In 1841, the Supreme Court ruled that the Amistad captives had been illegally enslaved and released them.

Glossary Term – Event

Glossary Term – Event

The 1860 election revealed how divided the country had become. There were essentially two separate sectional campaigns: one in the North, pitting Abraham Lincoln against Stephen A. Douglas, and one in the South between John C. Breckinridge and John Bell. Only Stephen Douglas mounted a truly national campaign. The Republicans did not campaign in the South and Lincoln’s name did not appear on the ballot in ten states. In the final balloting, Lincoln won only 39.9 percent of the popular vote, but received 180 Electoral College votes, fifty-...